Seòmar agus comataidhean

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Criathragan Hide all filters

Displaying 710 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S3W-40482

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 March 2011
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 17 March 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive when the Plan for Offshore Wind Energy in Scottish Territorial Waters will be published.

Offshore renewables represent a huge opportunity for Scotland; an opportunity to create new industries and to make great progress towards achieving our ambitious renewable energy targets.

I am therefore pleased to announce that tomorrow we will publish a Sectoral Plan for Offshore Wind energy in Scottish territorial waters and Post-Adoption Statement.

The Sectoral Plan is a strategic planning document for the development of offshore wind energy in Scottish Territorial Waters which contains proposals for development at the regional level up to 2020 and beyond.

The Sectoral Plan identifies sites that may be progressed in the short term, and prioritises the regions of Scottish Territorial Waters for further exploration as we seek to accommodate additional capacity from Scotland''s considerable offshore wind resource.

The Post-Adoption Statement details how we have taken environmental and socio-economic considerations into account in developing the plan and outlines a process for monitoring the plan''s implementation in order to maintain the quality of our marine environment.

The Scottish Government has worked closely with a wide range of stakeholders to shape the final plan and we will continue to do so during its implementation.

Question reference: S3W-39267

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 February 2011
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 25 February 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-38738 by Shona Robison on 26 January 2011, what percentage of shops that underwent test purchasing failed on both the first and second exercises and what action was taken.

The percentage of shops that underwent test purchasing and failed on both the first and second exercises were as follows:

Year	Failed both Visits
2008-09	5%
2009-10	9%
April to September 2010	9%

Premises that failed both visits are the subject of a report to the Procurator Fiscal. Outcomes were as follows

Year	Fined	Fiscal Fine	Fiscal Warning	No Proceedings	Guilty Admonished	Non Court Disposal	Pending
2008	27%	0	42%	19%	12%	0	0
2009	35%	12%	12%	23%	0	4%	14%

Question reference: S3W-38738

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 January 2011
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 26 January 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how many shops have failed test purchasing for selling tobacco products since 2003, broken down by local authority.

This information is not held centrally. However, the information has been routinely collected by the Society for Chief Officers for Trading Standards in Scotland (SCOTSS) from 1 April 2008. The information is shown in the following table.

Breakdown of Tobacco Test Purchasing Failures per Authority between 1 April 2008 and 30 September 2010.

Local Authority	First Failure	Second Failure	Total
Aberdeen City	35	7	42
Aberdeenshire	8	2	10
Angus	20	4	24
Argyll and Bute	40	0	40
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar	0	0	0
Clackmannanshire	8	1	9
Dumfries and Galloway	14	0	14
Dundee	15	0	15
East Ayrshire	8	0	8
East Dunbartonshire	9	0	9
East Lothian	12	0	12
East Renfrewshire	15	2	17
Edinburgh	68	3	71
Falkirk	0	0	0
Fife	39	2	41
Glasgow	91	25	116
Highland	0	0	0
Inverclyde	0	0	0
Moray	5	0	5
Midlothian	3	0	3
North Ayrshire	15	0	15
North Lanarkshire	89	12	101
Orkney	0	0	0
Perth and Kinross	12	0	12
Renfrewshire	46	9	55
Scottish Borders	20	1	21
Shetland	7	0	7
South Ayrshire	33	2	35
South Lanarkshire	46	3	49
Stirling	4	0	4
West Dunbartonshire	22	1	23
West Lothian	26	4	30
Totals	710	78	788

Question reference: S3W-38651

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 10 January 2011
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 21 January 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how many schools contain asbestos in their buildings, broken down by local authority.

The information requested is not held centrally. Health and Safety Regulations, including The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006, require duty holders who are responsible for the maintenance and repair of buildings in its control to manage the risks arising from asbestos. In the case of publicly funded schools that is the local authority. The Health and Safety Executive provides advice and guidance to local authorities and others on the management of asbestos.

Question reference: S3W-36667

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 04 October 2010
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 26 October 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what funding it is making available to local authorities for the control of seagulls.

Question reference: S3W-36434

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 September 2010
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 30 September 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many crimes involving a bladed or pointed instrument were recorded in (a) 2006-07 and (b) 2009-10, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S3W-36433

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 September 2010
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 29 September 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many crimes were recorded in (a) 2006-07 and (b) 2009-10, broken down by local authority area.

Crimes¹ recorded by the police in 2006-07 and in 2009-10:

Local Authority Area	2006-07	2009-10
Aberdeen City	23,322	18,729
Aberdeenshire	10,527	8,088
Angus	6,099	4,872
Argyll and Bute	5,303	4,133
Clackmannanshire	4,932	3,273
Dumfries and Galloway	9,547	6,897
Dundee City	15,512	11,924
East Ayrshire	8,544	7,967
East Dunbartonshire	4,874	4,047
East Lothian	5,232	4,643
East Renfrewshire	4,164	3,120
Edinburgh, City of	48,385	39,867
Eilean Siar	1,125	642
Falkirk	10,148	8,046
Fife	30,304	21,120
Glasgow City	75,387	61,165
Highland	14,872	12,120
Inverclyde	7,040	5,521
Midlothian	6,325	5,246
Moray	5,900	4,103
North Ayrshire	9,871	9,313
North Lanarkshire	26,157	23,422
Orkney Islands	497	543
Perth and Kinross	7,634	5,963
Renfrewshire	14,672	11,603
Scottish Borders	5,402	4,065
Shetland Islands	782	847
South Ayrshire	7,531	5,688
South Lanarkshire	20,969	17,271
Stirling	6,150	5,083
West Dunbartonshire	9,160	7,585
West Lothian	12,890	11,122
Scotland	419,257	338,028

Source: Scottish Government Justice Analytical Services.

Note: 1. Crimes include the categories Non-sexual crimes of violence, Crimes of indecency, Crimes of dishonesty, Fire-raising, vandalism etc. and Other crimes.

Question reference: S3W-36228

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 September 2010
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 24 September 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown by (a) type of crime and (b) police board area of reported crimes listed as handling of an offensive weapon in each of the last 10 years.

Question reference: S3W-36241

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 September 2010
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 14 September 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive whether a decision has been taken regarding the renewal of the contracts for the management and maintenance of the trunk road network.

Question reference: S3W-35476

Asked by: Stuart McMillan, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 July 2010
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 17 August 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have been convicted of not having motor insurance when driving in each of the last five years, broken down by sheriff court

The available information is given in the following tables. Following the summary justice reforms introduced in 2007 there has been an increase in motor insurance offences being dealt with by district courts rather than sheriff courts.

Persons Convicted for motor Insurance Offences¹ in 2004-05 to 2008-09 by Sheriff Court²

Sheriff Court	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09
Aberdeen	366	263	261	190	103
Airdrie	140	77	91	135	55
Alloa	88	90	92	61	26
Arbroath	106	76	70	39	18
Ayr	220	172	205	182	51
Banff	42	19	22	12	7
Campbeltown	17	13	6	14	1
Cupar	64	30	46	50	10
Dingwall	33	30	40	52	10
Dornoch	10	7	4	9	1
Dumbarton	213	173	162	161	69
Dumfries	274	218	271	201	91
Dundee	352	268	227	152	50
Dunfermline	204	160	121	115	55
Dunoon	31	18	11	15	12
Duns	35	31	30	27	11
Edinburgh	672	515	675	540	190
Elgin	98	101	76	100	30
Falkirk	155	109	129	165	56
Forfar	74	39	36	53	17
Fort William	32	25	24	19	8
Glasgow	194	176	189	126	55
Greenock	137	95	57	69	6
Haddington	70	60	41	42	19
Hamilton	496	437	351	336	179
Inverness	120	89	76	58	22
Jedburgh	58	58	56	32	18
Kilmarnock	285	286	261	252	126
Kirkcaldy	304	188	167	175	137
Kirkcudbright	41	21	24	20	12
Kirkwall	11	9	6	12	11
Lanark	78	39	26	31	12
Lerwick	14	14	20	23	8
Livingston/Linlithgow	315	282	267	225	68
Lochmaddy	8	9	5	4	2
Oban	35	33	17	16	7
Paisley	296	264	215	177	54
Peebles	12	15	22	18	0
Perth	124	106	132	117	43
Peterhead	130	80	47	33	34
Portree	7	5	6	4	2
Rothesay	3	5	9	6	7
Selkirk	63	50	45	47	7
Stirling	139	110	138	139	47
Stonehaven	35	22	22	29	6
Stornoway	7	25	6	23	7
Stranraer	88	58	53	47	32
Tain	41	42	40	36	6
Wick	27	21	18	18	6
Not Known	1	0	0	0	0
Scotland	6,365	5,033	4,915	4,407	1,804

Notes:

1. Where main offence.

2. Based on sheriff court of most recent 2004-05 to 2008-09 offence.

Persons Convicted for Motor Insurance Offences¹ in 2004-05 to 2008-09 by District/JP Court²

District Court	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09
Aberdeen City	119	149	235	189	394
Aberdeenshire	78	167	151	188	103
Angus	38	97	129	100	147
Argyll and Bute	0	0	3	18	23
Clackmannanshire	5	19	8	13	47
Dumfries and Galloway	16	25	42	101	226
Dundee City	142	123	145	143	218
East Ayrshire	7	19	38	28	132
East Dunbartonshire	2	1	0	5	15
East Lothian	13	9	35	25	76
East Renfrewshire	5	5	15	17	53
Edinburgh, City of	192	216	251	395	758
Eilean Siar	0	0	0	0	0
Falkirk	64	68	75	99	129
Fife	343	375	278	353	629
Glasgow City	1,647	1,734	1,777	1,560	1,271
Highland	30	49	60	98	208
Inverclyde	4	10	6	62	118
Midlothian	18	24	31	32	1
Moray	1	7	0	0	43
North Ayrshire	7	14	29	50	151
North Lanarkshire	134	186	187	202	454
Orkney Islands	0	0	0	0	0
Perth and Kinross	94	85	55	72	155
Renfrewshire	18	27	61	116	197
Scottish Borders	9	27	9	7	94
South Ayrshire	3	21	28	70	156
South Lanarkshire	43	70	112	136	253
Stirling	11	16	14	13	54
West Dunbartonshire	0	0	13	31	94
West Lothian	16	26	44	65	250
Western Isles	0	1	0	0	6
Not Known	0	3	0	0	9
Scotland	3,059	3,573	3,831	4,188	6,464

Notes:

1. Where main offence.

2. Based on sheriff court of most recent 2004-05 to 2008-09 offence.